Where Have You Gone, David Wright?

Do you remember how exciting it was when David Wright came up as a 21-year-old in 2004? How limitless the possibilities seemed then? And how all those "possibilities" seemed like certainties after he popped off for 27 home runs ans 102 RBI in his first full year in '05?

Those memories are like daggers in my mind now. First there was the disaster that was Wright's 2009 season, now we have the strikeout fest that is his 2010 campaign.

We're just not watching the same player anymore. I don't know if it's mental or physical or mechanical. Doesn't matter really.

What matters is that Wright is a shell of his former self. As a Mets fan it's extremely troubling on the level of what it means for the team's prospects. Beyond that though, what really upsets me about his -- I don't know... decline seems the wrong word, more like waywardness -- waywardness is that it makes watching him so unpleasant.

Every time he steps to the plate I cynically pray that he won't strike out. Every time he gets two strikes on him I say to myself "please don't strike out, please don't strike out, please don't strike out" as I wait for him to flail at a fastball out over the plate for strike 3.

Wright was never a guy who never struck out, but it used to be within reason; from 2005-2008 he struck out between 113 and 118 times per season. It was a predictable, totally reasonable strikeout rate.

And then 2009. And now 2010.

I've never seen a player strike out the way Wright does these days. The K number ballooned to 140 last year, and is on pace to reach 223 this year. That's not a typo, not a misprint. He's on pace for 223 strikeouts; if he does it, he would tie Mark Reynolds' all-time record for strikeouts by a batter in a season, set last year.

And this from a guy who used to be such a great two-strike hitter. Aye-aye-aye. 

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This isn't just about Wright's hitting, though that completely screwed us in the game tonight. I mean, I realize Billy Wagner is throwing gas and that he's a strikeout pitcher, but even going into that at-bat, with the go-ahead run on third and one out, did any of us think there was any chance Wright wouldn't strike out there?

But there's also his fielding. First came the implosion in Florida, now comes his errant throw to end the ball game tonight. I realize it wasn't a completely terrible throw, but rationalize it all you like, the Mets still lost because of it.

All in all, it was another bad inning for Wright in what's quickly becoming the worst season of his career (and that's saying something after 2009). You can say all you want about the improved power and RBI numbers, but the batting average is way down, the strikeouts are way up, and the guy no longer feels like a difference-maker.

He feels more like a headcase. Or worse, like an overvalued third baseman who we cherish for sentimental reasons, rather than his actual contributions in the here and now.

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It pains me to write all of this. Go back through the archives of this blog -- we've always loved D-Wright.

And god knows the team's woes aren't his fault. If Carlos Beltran were out there every day or Jose Reyes were actually contributing or Jason Bay weren't making like the biggest first-year-of-his-contract bust since the 2005 version of Beltran, all of this might be water under the bridge.

But all of those aren't the reality. The reality is this team needs Wright to be the player that he was from 2005-2008, and he's simply not that guy anymore.

Maybe something clicks for him and he gets back to that place, but right now he looks so completely lost it's hard to imagine how he could.

Oh well. We'll always have the memories of that 21-year-old prospect, and the excitement that came with the certainty that things were finally going to turn around for us Mets fans.

There's always Ike Davis. 

- A.F.O.M.G.